Polishing wheel



Sept. 24, 1 935. F. F. HILLIX POLISHING WHEEL Filed March 22, 19::

Esra? A" #144. I1

Arm/aways Patented sci-35235 9 -1351- olirlclz rousnmc wnnan Immewmromo, minor to The United States Platers Supply Company, Cleveland,Ohio, in corporajionof Ohio 3 Claims.

The present invention relates 'to polishing wheels for polishing orfinishing surfaces, particularly metal surfaces.

In the polishing art as practiced for a great many years, the work isheld against a rotating set-up wheel, that is a wheel with a polishingmedium or abrasive glued to the surface thereof, and the abrasive iscaused to remove small amounts of stock, leaving a uniformly scratchedsurface. As the wheels are changed using a progressively finer abrasive,the surface of the work becomes finer and finer until the scratchesbecome some that the surface does not appear scratched to the eye, andbegins to have what is called color.

After the surface becomes nearly to the color stage, the work is carriedon by what is called bufling. In bufling the abrasive is usually notglued to the buff, but is applied by holding a cake or brick of thecompound, which is a mixture of fine abrasive and suitable greases,waxes, etc., to the running bufi, causing a small amount to melt off andcover the surface of the bulf.

The polishing wheels are made of various material, such as wood,leather, felt, paper, cloth, etc., and after a wheel has been in use ashort time the cutting ability begins to decrease, which is followed bya lowering of the quality of the work. Various methods have beenresorted to to restore the cutting quality of the wheel, such as openingup the wheel by using a pumice stone thereon, or dressing the wheel toremove the worn or dull abrasive. After a certain amount of dressing,etc., the wheel must be replaced at a considerable expense, which, inaddition to the time lost dressing and changing the wheels, is a seriousobjection especially in continuous processes and automatic machines.

The bufis can be restored, as mentioned above, without removing thesame'from the machine or even shutting down the machine, by merelyholding a cake of the compound against the running buff, from which itfollows that the sooner the work can be put on the buif the less set-upwheels required, with a' resulting decrease in cost of production. Thishas led to a great development in polishing compounds with the view ofincreasing the cutting ability of the buff, so that the work may be putthereon sooner. But development in this direction is limited because theface of the-buff is softer than that of the set-up wheels and tends tofollow the surface being finished.

If the work is put on the buff before it has what is commonly called abottom, that is benpplieation muchez, 1933, Serial No. 662,063

fore all the deep scratches, pits, surface defects, etc haregremoved andbefore the surface is scratched with uniform scratches, no color can beobtainedlater because the buff which follows the surface tends to gougeout the deep scratches, 6' pits, etc., and the surface while it willlook bright, will not reflect properly. The ideal polishing wheel and/orbuff must be able to follow the surface to the extent that the outlinecan be preserved, and should. remove the ridges or project- 10 ingdefects without gouging out and digging into the scratches, pits, etc.,and exaggerating them. Attempts have been made to use polishing wheelsof wood, leather, paper, etc., and apply the abrasive to the work in theform of a paste 1 or as loose grains with only partial success. If thewheel is soft enough to carry the abrasive well, it

is so soft that the fibers will crowd down into the scratches, pits,etc., and gouge them out, exaggerating the same and producing very poorwork, in addition to producing excessive frictional heat where enoughpressure is used to make the abrasive do its work most efficiently. Whena harder wheel is used to overcome the above difllculties, the same willnot carry the 25 abrasive which will roll between the work and thewheels. Brushes have been employed to some extent for polishing but theyhave the disadvantages of gouging out the scratches, pits, etc., andhave a tendency to streak the work.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a polishing wheelwhich will remove ridges, projections, etc., and smooth or level thesurface without gouging out the scratches, pits, etc., and without anytendency to streak the 35 work.

Other objects of this invention are the provision of a highly eilicientpolishing wheel in which the density of the wheel face may be readilycontrolled and held constant; whichv will generate 40 little heat inoperation and in which the heat dissipation will be automatic andeflicient; which can be readily made of any diameter or length of face,can be easily-cleaned to facilitate changes from coarse to fine abrasiveand the cutting 45 ability of which will remain constant over extendedperiods without alteration.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a method ofpolishing, which is especially adapted for continuous process work, isuniform as to quality, is fast and readily controlled, has substantiallyno-tendency to dig holes in the surface being polished in the event ofirregular feed, and is clean, thus avoiding the danger of scratches. I55 back into place.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent fromthe following description of the preferred embodiment thereof describedwith reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is aperspective view of a polishing wheel embodying the present inventionoperating upon a surface to be polished.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the'polishing wheel shown in Fig.l, with a portion broken away to show the interior construction; and

Fig. 3 is a section with portions in elevation on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views of the drawing.

Referring to the drawing, the reference character A designates apolishing wheel in general, adapted to be supported upon a suitablearbor (not shown) and rotated in' engagement with a surface to bepolished. As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the polishing wheel A is inworking engagement with the upper surface of a metal strip B, preferablyfed relative to the wheel by mechanism not shown. The referencecharacter C designates abrasive material being fed to the strip B aheadof the wheel A in any convenient manner. The metal strip B is alsopreferably supported from underneath adjacent the wheel A by someconvenient means, such as a table D.

The polishing wheel A comprises a hub II], a. flange I I formed integralwith the hub I0, a cover plate 12, and a plurality of bundles of laminaI3. Each bundle of lamina is made of a plurality of separate thinrectangular sheets of suitable paper material, doubled back uponthemselves into U- shape about one of a plurality of pins or rods I4,supported in suitable apertures in the flange II and the cover plate I2,with the inner or middle part of each bundle clamped between said flangeand cover plate by means of bolts I 5. A plurality of pins or rods I6positioned in an outer row of apertures in the flange and cover plate IIand I2, respectively, extend between adjacent bundles of laminae, act asseparators for the bundles of lamina, and cause the same to stand out,radially, similar to a pencil of planes.

In operation the Wheel is rotated from some suitable source of power,and the surface to be finished is brought in contact therewith. Sincethe individual lamina are unsupported beyond the side disks of thewheel, that is beyond the flange I I and the cover plate I2, they arefree to separate, and bend or flex circumferentially independently ofeach other while in engagement with the work, and as they leave the worksnap The wheel is usually rotated at a relatively high speed and thethin lamina snap back into position as they leave the work, in a mannersimilar to cards during riffiing, setting up air currents with aventilating action, keeping the temperature of both the work and thewheel down. This feature of my polishing wheel is particularlyadvantageous in polishing strip metal.

In addition to the ventilating feature of the present polishing wheelnoted above, the centrifugal action on the air between the lamina andbundles will set up additional air currents, that is a steady flow ofair into the wheel adjacent the hub thereof, and out at the periphery.The design of the wheel causes large amounts of air to circulate pastthe point of work and carry away the heat. The amount of air circulatedwill vary with the speed of the wheel-and is, theremits the amount ofabrasive fed per unit area of 0 surface to be controlled; the abrasiveis always fresh and sharp, and the greases and other constituents give acool, clean cutting operation.

The paper employed in forming the lamina is preferably of such acomposition that it will be 15 very tough and composed of long fibrousmaterial produced by such a method that it will not leave scratches onthe surfaces. Such paper has been found far superior to cotton forproducing what is called French mirror finish because cotton tends toleave thread scratches on the surface. The selection of proper materialfor the lamina gives absolute control of the cutting action, and thelength of time that the wheel will cut is controlled by the amount ofabrasive fed, or by the 25 engagement or disengagement of the wheel withthe work. The wheel is preferably given a slight axial reciprocation toequalize the wear and keep the wheel face in proper condition.

During operation, the work is swept clean of 3 the paste which is thrownfrom the wheel by centrifugal action and caught in suitable guards. Thedensity of the wheel depends upon the thickness, length and compactnessof the lamina, and also the speed at which the wheel is revolved, fromwhich it follows that the density of the working face of the wheel canbe controlled with exactness. A slight decrease in speed of the wheelwill overcome any tendency of the wheel to become stiffer as it wearsaway. 40

As illustrated, the lamina are shown extendiing parallel with the axisof the wheel or substantially parallel therewith, but in some instances,it is preferred that the lamina make an appreciable angle with the axisof the wheel 4 as this construction tends to produce a shearing actionwith reference to the work, eliminating any chatter or pounding andincreasing the quallty of the work.

From the foregoing description of the pre which may be varied within thescope of this invention, and I particularly point out and claim as myinvention the following:

1. A polishing wheel comprising a rotatable hub member and a pluralityof lamina supported thereby so as to project beyond the hub member 65 insubstantially radial planes with the planes intersecting atsubstantially the axis of rotation, the outer edges of the free ends ofthe lamina constituting the working surfaces, said lamina being made ofrelatively stiff tough paper and 70 their outer projecting portionsbeing free to flex in a circumferential direction but beingsubstantially non-yielding in other directions.

' 2. A polishing wheel comprising a rotatable hub member and a pluralityof spaced groups of 7 aoiag oe'o a 'n 3 laminae supported thereby so asto project beyond the hub member in substantially radial planes with theplanes intersecting at substantially the axis of rotation, the outeredges of the tree ends or the lamina: constituting the working surfaces.said laminie being made of relatively stii! tough paper and their outerprojecting portions being free to flex in a circumferential directionbut being substantially non-yielding in other directions.

3. A polishing wheel comprising a rotatable hub member and a pluralityoi lamina supported thereby so as to project beyond the hub member insubstantially radial planes with the planes intersecting atsubstantially the axis of rotation, the 'outer edges 01' the free endsof the lamina constituting the working surfaces and being continuousfrom one end of the wheel to the other, saidlaminabeingmadeotrelativestiii'tough paper and their-outer projecting portions being free to flexin a circumferential direction but being substantially non-yielding inother directions. 10

FOBTERRHIILIX.

